


With Chocolate Upon your Lips, I Want to Kiss You

by xiubeans



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Humor, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-01
Updated: 2016-07-01
Packaged: 2018-07-19 12:04:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7360726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xiubeans/pseuds/xiubeans
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Joonmyun develops a crush on the cute blond guy that always goes to the same cafe as him when he does his homework. He learns that Yixing is a match maker that also happens to be very, very innocent. Couples are made and Joonmyun embarrasses himself as he tries to earn the affections of Yixing.<br/></p>
            </blockquote>





	With Chocolate Upon your Lips, I Want to Kiss You

**Author's Note:**

> This is another Sulay Christmas fic I wrote a while back o:

Joonmyun sighs as he settles down in the plush leather single seater. He was seated near the back of the cozy cafe, purposely away from happy couples. Baekhyun always teased him about being an old, single man, which was true. But Joonmyun's excuse was he didn't have time to be going to clubs to try and hookup with someone.

"Still working? It's the holidays, Joonmyun. You should be at home or going to parties."

Joonmyun looks up from his laptop screen to see his friend and owner of the cafe. He raises an eyebrow. "I have to write a five page essay about the comparison between human anatomy and flowers for biology, Wufan. I don't have time to be sleeping at home," Joonmyun snorts.

Wufan rolls his eyes. "Before I graduated, I always put off the holiday homework. I mean, it's not like it's the end of the world if you take a break from school. Don't you get tired?"

"Why do you think I come here everyday?" Joonmyun asks, clearly annoyed now. His friend puts his hands up.

"Okay, Jesus. I'll go get you your drink," he says and leaves Joonmyun's corner table.

The brunet rubs the bridge of his nose, annoyance ebbing away for tiredness. He spots blond hair out of the corner of his eyes, perking up at the familiar hair and notes that the cafe's regular customer (besides Joonmyun himself and a few others) was right on time at eleven o'clock sharp.

The man sits down a few tables away from Joonmyun, somewhere in the crowd of cheery couples. He takes a sip of his drink that a waitress brought over to him, cream on his top lip as he smiles happily. Joonmyun wanted to kiss the cream off of his lips.

Wufan arrives then to give Joonmyun the special of the day: hot chocolate. He blocks his friend's sight of the blond man. "Move," the younger man says and pats Wufan's hip to make him scoot over to the side.

"Are you creeping on that blond guy again?" Wufan asks as he slides into the empty seat in front of Joonmyun. The brunet shakes his head, trying hard to not blush. Wufan grins knowingly. "I see. Well, tell me when you've got his ass," the tall man says as he leaves Joonmyun again, this time the other blushing.

Joonmyun sips his hot chocolate, savoring the sweet and milky drink while dark chocolate bark sits atop the whipped cream. Feeling re-energized, he pulls up the unfinished document and looks at the last paragraph he had left off the day before.

Every now and then, Joonmyun looks up to glance at the blond man. He's reading a book now, which means that Joonmyun can look at him without the other man knowing. It wasn't like he knew that he had an admirer, anyways.

*

The days pass by, slowly getting colder and colder until it begins to snow. One snowy Sunday morning, Joonmyun blinks his eyes open to stare out at the white streets. He rubs his eyes and decides that he was going to stay in for the day and catch up on some sleep. Turning over on the other side, he throws the covers over his head and closes his eyes.

*

Joonmyun is quite proud of his essay; even if there weren't a lot of physical features between a flower and person, he listed and typed up how important each organelle in each cell was. The end was slightly rushed though, with a sloppy conclusion. At least he would still get enough points for the essay. Hopefully.

Even though he's done with the essay, he walks into the cafe on Wednesday afternoon with his book bag slung over his left shoulder and a book tucked under his arm. He sits down at the usual corner table at the back of the cafe, placing the bag on the table and looks around to find a puff of yellow hair. When he doesn't spot one, his heart sinks into his stomach.

"Hey. Done with your essay?" Wufan asks as he comes up to Joonmyun's table. He puts his notepad in the pocket of his red apron.

The brunet nods. "Stayed home on Sunday to sleep in, then finished it yesterday at midnight. I finally have time to read books, yay!" He pumps his fist for added excitement.

"Hold on there. I'm all for reading, but I think you need to go have some sort of social life. Maybe party at a club. Baekhyun's having a party tonight, so maybe you can come if you don't have other plans like—"

"Okay, thanks. Can I have a peppermint latte now? Plenty of whipped cream, please."

Wufan raises a brow, but leaves Joonmyun in peace to read.

The cafe isn't as crowded as it was on Saturday, yet it takes time for him to finally spot the familiar blond hair in the thin crowd of chattering people. He watches the man smile at the bubbly cashier and take his drink. He weaves his way through the tables and slows down when he nears Joonmyun's corner table.

"Is anybody sitting here?" The man asks sweetly, pointing to the leather chair in front of Joonmyun. Said man gapes like a goldfish for a good five seconds before nodding. The other man smiles at Joonmyun and sits down, placing his cup on the dark mahogany wood table. Joonmyun moves his bag aside.

Holy shit. Breath, Joonmyun. You can do this. Deep breath. Don't fuck this up!

The man smiles. "I'm sorry, I should introduce myself. I'm Zhang Yixing!" Yixing puts his hand out the other man to shake. Joonmyun extends the wrong hand out, then quickly switches and shakes Yixing's hand. He really hoped his hand didn't start to get all gross and clammy.

"Kim Joonmyun," the he says, somewhat shyly. Yixing giggles and sips his drink. He notices Wufan as he casually strides up to the table and places Joonmyun's latte on the table. He winks at him, and leaves the two men.

"You have some stuff here," Joonmyun says and points to his lips. Yixing licks the cream away. The brunet is disappointed that he wasn't able to kiss and lick it away.

"What are you reading?" Yixing asks not a minute later just to have a bit of a conversation with someone he barely knew.

"The Little Prince," Joonmyun replies. He's started breaking out into a nervous sweat and really hopes that he doesn't fuck up the first encounter.

Yixing's eyes light up. "I love that book! I've read it a million times, and even though I know what's going to happen, I still get a bit teary-eyed," he says and looks down at the green mug in his hands, smiling at his hot chocolate.

"Every time I read it, something that I never realized just comes to me and...woah," the other man says. He makes a "mind blown" gesture, causing Yixing to erupt in laughter. Joonmyun could only describe it as a lovable laughter, just like the man in the story described the Prince's laughter.

They spend their time talking about books and each other. It turns out, Yixing had a part time job of teaching a dance class of kids around the age of seven to ten. Joonmyun loves the way the blond man smiles as he talks about each and every kid, and even bounces in his seat in excitement when he offers to teach Joonmyun for free. If it meant spending more time with Yixing, then count him in. He was also majoring in performing arts at the same college Joonmyun went to. He sighs and says that he wanted to be a dancer as a kid.

"I didn't see you here on Sunday," Yixing says almost too casually as he finds a new topic to keep the conversation going.

"Er, I slept in on Sunday. Why?" Joonmyun asks as he turns his mug this way and that as he stares at the fluffy white cream sitting on top his latte.

Yixing shakes his head. "You're one of the usual customers here, and I was surprised to find you weren't here," Yixing explains.

Joonmyun raises an eyebrow. As if Yixing sensed that he liked to stare at the over male (just like Joonmyun), he quickly adds, "You start to notice the same people after a while."

 

"Hey guys, we're gonna close up for the day," Wufan says an hour later. Yixing looks at his watch, eyes widening in alarm.

"Oh gosh, I'm sorry for making you listen to me babble on and on, Joonmyun ssi!" Yixing says and bows as he stumbles out of his chair.

Wufan and Joonmyun laugh. "It's alright. I enjoy listening," the brunet says.

"Ah, are you going to Baekhyun's party tonight?" Wufan asks, turning his back to Yixing, who has started shoving his textbooks and a copy of a Harry Potter book into his bag. Joonmyun hesitates, then nods. He might as well.

"I'm sorry, but you're both going to Byun Baekhyun's party later tonight?" the blond man asks in a quiet tone of voice, as if he was shy to even ask.

"Yes. Are you friends with him?" Joonmyun asks with an arched brow.

Yixing nods.

"Oh. Do you want to come with us to the party? I mean, I'm sure you know where his apartment is, but we can carpool or something or uh," Joonmyun garbled. Shit, abort!

Wufan glances at Joonmyun, then explains to Yixing what Joonmyun had tried to say. "We can come to your place and pick you up if you live far away from Baekhyun's," he says.

The blond man smiles. "Okay, thanks! I think it's better than carpooling with one of my friends who always gets drunk and so I have to drive him back home and that means I have to spend the night at his place," Yixing says as he rolls his eyes.

"We won't get drunk, promise. We try to be sober most of the time." Joonmyun wants to ask where Wufan got the "we", because it was Joonmyun that always stayed sober and had to drag a drunk and emotional Wufan back home. He almost got into a car crash on multiple occasions because Wufan was always clinging onto him and kept babbling on and on about his ex girlfriends and how he might be gay because he liked Zitao. It isn't surprising though, since him and Zitao have been flirting since they first met one horribly hot summer day.

Before the three leave, Yixing gives Joonmyun his cell phone number and address.

*

At exactly 7:30, Wufan pulls up in front of a small apartment. A man with blond hair is standing in front of the building in a black cashmere sweater and ripped skinny jeans. He notices the car and smiles as he approaches it. "Hi! Thank god I only had to stand outside for only a minute before you guys came," Yixing jokes as he opens the back door and slides in. Joonmyun can't make a witty reply to that because he's too preoccupied thinking about how hot Yixing looks. He starts to salivate as he imagines what Yixing's ass looks like.

"We're always on time for everything. Right?" Wufan nudges Joonmyun, the other breaking out of his trance.

"Yeah. Let's go!" Joonmyun says. Wufan shifts the car into drive and pulls away from the curb.

Joonmyun crawls to the backseat with Yixing after they pass a green light (because he felt that it was unfair if he got to sit in the passenger's seat), ungracefully going thump as he falls into the blond man's lap. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry! Shit," the brunet panics and flails his arms as he tries to retreat back to the passenger's seat but fails. As he tries to lift his top half of his body, his arms give out and he falls again.

Yixing is blushing heavily as he helps Joonmyun, the other man opting to just sit in the backseat instead of risking another failed attempt at going back to his original seat. He sits down on the left side while Yixing scoots over a bit. He has the right side all to himself, but for some reason decided to sit in the middle of the car.

Wufan doesn't say anything the entire time his friend tries to get in the back. He just grins stupidly and flicks the radio on.

"Sorry about that," Joonmyun mutters and plays with his watch.

"It's alright," Yixing says and smiles. Joonmyun loved how the blond man always smiled, no matter what he was doing, like reading a book or talking to Joonmyun. He grips the hem of his sweater and starts to fold and roll it. Joonmyun notices that the sleeves are a bit long on him.

An awkward silence accompanies the two until they arrive at Baekhyun's apartment, situated between a strip club and bar. They all climb out of the car, cold air nipping at them as they make their way to the door. Wufan raises a hand to ring the door bell, but the door ominously swings open before he can do so.

They walk down a hallway, music booming loud. As they approach the living room, a drunk Zitao climbs off of a frightened guy who was sporting a cap with the words "michigo" in cursive written in white on it.

"Ge! I missed you so much! Please let me suck you off right now," Zitao whines as he wraps himself around Wufan like a baby sloth around its mother. Wufan grunts and walks to the mini bar, dragging Zitao along.

"So uh, you wanna grab a drink or something?" Joonmyun asks and gestures to where Wufan was. Yixing shakes his head.

"I don't like drinking. Beer is just...it tastes weird," Yixing says and makes a face.

"You wanna dance then?" Joonmyun asks causally. Yixing's eyes almost widen, and Joonmyun hurriedly adds, "Not dirty dancing, of course! Just dancing. Nothing–nothing dirty or anything," he stammers.

"Okay," Yixing says and drags Joonmyun to where everybody was either grinding against somebody or was dancing by themselves. It takes a second for Yixing to pick out a beat and dance to it. Joonmyun watches as Yixing's hips sway and even pop out every now and then. Surely this was considered dirty, even if he wasn't grinding on Joonmyun.

Joonmyun just side steps to the beat, glancing back every now and then at Wufan, who might have been dry humping Zitao behind the bar. When he looks back at Yixing, his eyes seem to pierce into his soul and eat him up. He shivers.

"Are you cold?" Yixing asks, noticing the shiver and stops dancing. Joonmyun shakes his head.

"Just a random chill," Joonmyun replies with a shrug. Yixing looks at him somewhat skeptically, but resumes dancing.

Yixing and Joonmyun don't stay near each other during the party (though Joonmyun did wish that they did so he could get to know the other man better). Joonmyun is sitting at the minibar, next to a passed out girl, when Yixing approaches him.

The blond man slides onto the red stool as Joonmyun takes a swig of water. "You're not drinking," Yixing says as he gestures to the glass of water.

"Gotta stay sober to take care of a drunk Wufan. If there were two drunk guys, who was going to take care of us?" Joonmyun says as he swirls the clear liquid around.

"Good point," Yixing says. He drums his fingers on the black counter, then smiles as the (attractive) bartender comes up to them. "Hi, Jongdae," he says.

"Hey Yixing." The man, Jongdae, grins. "Where'd you get those really tight jeans?" He asks.

Even though the room is dim, Joonmyun still manages to see the blush creeping up the blond man's face. "I bought it at the mall," he mumbles. Jongdae leans in, nose almost touching Yixing's. Joonmyun watches on jealously.

"How about you and I go upstairs? They look a bit uncomfortable on you," Jongdae says with a flirty smirk. Joonmyun clears his throat to remind the two they had someone watching.

Yixing coughs awkwardly. "Ah, I'm with him," the blond man says and smiles as he scoots closer to Joonmyun and wraps his arm around the other's waist.

Jongdae gives the blond man a skeptical look, but shrugs nonetheless and leaves.

Joonmyun feels like he's going to pass out. He fidgets in his seat for a bit, and when Yixing finally remembers he has an arm wrapped around Joonmyun's waist, he blushes heavily.

"I'm going to need to set up a date for Jongdae," Yixing mutters as he plays with his bracelet. Joonmyun arches an eyebrow.

"A date with Minseok, perhaps. Or maybe Baekhyun? Baekhyun has a date with Chanyeol later this week, though," the blond man continues to nobody but himself.

*

At eleven the next day at the cafe, Joonmyun talks to Yixing as he sipped his coffee. He watched as Yixing somehow got cream on both his lips and laughed.

"So you're a matchmaker?" Joonmyun says to keep the conversation going and avoid any awkward pauses.

Yixing seems to brighten up at he mention of matchmaking. "Yeah! Well, it's more like a part-time job, to be honest," the blond man says with a chuckle. "If you ever need any dating tips, ask me! Or I can set up a blind date for you. Whichever one works."

Joonmyun grins. "I can find my own person to date, thank you very much. But I welcome tips," he says.

Yixing's cell phone vibrates just then. The blond man texts back whoever had texted him. He smiles. "Baekhyun's date was a success!"

"I never knew Baekhyun is single. Or was. I'm not actually sure," Joonmyun says and shrugs. Yixing laughs.

"Baekhyun is single, but I decided to hook him up with another guy named Chanyeol. They both have that party attitude."

"Are you single?" Joonmyun blurts out. The younger man blushes.

"I–um–yes," Yixing mumbles. He rotates his mug around.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't be butting into your love life," Joonmyun apologizes.

Yixing shrugs. "It's fine. It was just a sudden question and threw me off," he says. Another awkward silence follows. "I can certainly feel the awkwardness here," Yixing mumbles into his mug as he takes another sip of his drink.

"What would you want me to say? Talk to you as if I've know you for ten years?" Joonmyun asks, looking at the blond man.

Yixing nods. "If we're gonna be friends, we might as well act like one around each other, right?

Oh, so Yixing was already assuming they were going to be friends. That was actually fine with Joonmyun, though he thought that being friends with Yixing was going to be a bit hard.

"So uh, I heard Baekhyun was having another party. Again," Joonmyun says. "It's tomorrow."

"And you're trying to ask me if I'm going to come to the party?" Yixing asked with a raised eyebrow. He peers up at Joonmyun through his bangs and lashes, and notices the pink tinting Joonmyun's face. He had to admit, Joonmyun was an adorable guy. "You're so awkward around me. Maybe if we hang out more, you wouldn't be like this?" The idea is so sudden that it throws Joonmyun off. He chokes on his coffee, and ends up spewing it on the table.

"Sorry," the brunet mumbles and cleans up the small puddles of coffee.

Yixing smiles. "It's fine. Um, so you don't mind hanging out more? You're an interesting person, and I'd love to spend more time with you."

Joonmyun nods. "Yeah, I'd really like that. What are you doing tomorrow before Baekhyun's party?"

*

They go shopping the next day. Well, Yixing goes shopping while Joonmyun tags along. Another friend of Yixing's and coworker was also invited, who taught adults ballet and jazz. His name was Jongin, and for whatever reason, he likes to wrap his arm around Yixing as he talks to him. The day drags on with Joonmyun trying to glare the arm off of Yixing's waist while Jongin and Yixing chat and wander around the mall.

"Hyung, let's go here," Jongin says and directs Yixing into a clothing store. Joonmyun almost runs into a pole, but luckily changes course on time to avoid any embarrassing moments. Yixing and Jongin are three steps ahead of him, and are riffling through clothing racks. Joonmyun stays behind and messes around on his cell phone.

"What are you doing? You haven't been talking," Yixing says and plucks Joonmyun's cell phone out of his hand.

"I feel like the third wheel here," Joonmyun grumbles and takes his phone back. Yixing makes a comforting sound and hugs the brunet.

"It's alright. Let's go get some food!"

"There's a food court just around the corner," Jongin says and appears with a bundle of clothes. "You guys can go ahead. I'm just gonna go try these out."

Good riddance, Joonmyun thinks. "Okay. See you a bit!" is what he says, though. Yixing drags him out of the store and into the food court.

"So the party is at six, and I assume you'll drive me there at seven-thirty, like last time?" Yixing asks.

"Yeah," the other man says. He glances down at his arm, where Yixing's arms were wrapped around his and was clinging to him, as if he let go, Joonmyun would be lost in the sea of shoppers. But he doesn't mind, because it's Yixing clinging to him and not Jongin clinging to Yixing.

The blond man hums, lost in thought as he looks around the food court. He points to a stall with a purple sign and yellow words. "Let's get that!"

"Bubble tea?" Joonmyun asks with a raised brow. Yixing nods eagerly and drags the other man to the stall. It must be new, because he hasn't seen it before the last time he went to the mall, which was about three months ago.

"They sell really yummy cookies and cakes, too," Yixing continues and pulls his friend to where the line was.

"The line looks a bit long," Joonmyun murmurs as he looks to where the front of the line was.

"You can go get your own food if you want," Yixing says. He looks at Joonmyun with those eyes that always seem to have that glint to them.

Joonmyun sighs. He had a feeling Yixing was actually trying to make Joonmyun stay with what might have been puppy eyes. "I'll stay," he mumbles. Yixing grins and swings their arms back in forth in triumph.

Jongin arrives shortly after they get their drinks (and slice of cake for Yixing). "You shouldn't be letting Yixing get bubble tea. He's like a spoiled child," he says and gestures to the large cup.

Yixing pouts. "Am not!" he says.

Joonmyun can't say no to those eyes and that pretty face, though. Just like Wufan was a sucker for Zitao's aeygo, Joonmyun had become a victim to Yixing's cuteness.

"Did you pull off the puppy face again?" Jongin asks as he prods Yixing's foot from under the table.

"Of course not!" Yixing huffs. He crosses his arms.

"Hey, it's alright. I don't mind paying for him," Joonmyun interrupts. Jongin glares at Yixing, and must have kicked him in the shin, because the blond man yelps and glares back. So much for trying to defuse the argument.

After the small break (it was very awkward because Joonmyun was once again not included in the conversations. Well, on multiple occasions he was asked a question but never really joined the talk), they wander around the mall for a bit until the sky was getting dark. Jongin waves good bye to Yixing and Joonmyun, and the two are left alone.

"The party starts at seven this time," Yixing says as he looks at the time on his cell phone. "I hope your boyfriend arrives before we become Joonmen and unicorn popsicles."

"Uh?" Joonmyun blinks dumbly. He looks at Yixing, who has his hands in the pocket of his jeans. He was wearing a sweater with one blue sleeve and one red sleeve and alternate colors for the cuffs. Clad in only that sweater and skinny jeans (If Joonmyun leaned back a bit, he could see Yixing's plush rump), Yixing looked like he was about to turn into a popsicle. "Wufan isn't my boyfriend..." he mumbles. Joonmen was kind of an odd nickname, too.

"Ah, he's not?" Yixing asks. "I thought he was. The cute, quiet, shy guy with the buff, scary looking guy is always a couple I always see."

Yixing just called Joonmyun cute, quiet, and shy. Holy fuck.

"Ya'know, Jongin is dating another guy named Kyungsoo. He's sexy (Fuck Jongin. Joonmyun could be sexy, too!), and I think having a sweet, weird guy will balance their personalities out," Yixing continues. Joonmyun can see the blond man shiver. He shrugs off his jacket off and drapes it on Yixing's shoulders. "Oh, thank you," Yixing says and smiles, dimples showing and oh god he had dimples. Joonmyun stops himself from staring at Yixing's adorable face and just manages to stop himself from leaning in to kiss the other man.

But what he doesn't stop though is his mouth. "You're cute," Joonmyun says almost a too loudly. A group of middle school kids giggle as they pass by.

Yixing blushes. "Th–thanks. You are, too."

Some sadistic bastard up there must be enjoying how Joonmyun was always saying stupid things and embarrassing himself. He's glad when Wufan finally arrives to pick him and Yixing up, because another awkward silence had decided to creep up. And so that he doesn't embarrass himself even more, Joonmyun lets Yixing sit in the passenger's seat. But he's starting to regret that, though.

"So," Wufan begins casually. Joonmyun notices his hand on Yixing's knee and just like earlier with Jongin, tries to burn the hand off of his prey by glaring at it. It doesn't work, and to his despair the hand only climbs up so it settles on Yixing's thigh. He makes a warning growl in the back of his throat, one that Wufan will only understand. Get your dirty hands off of Yixing. I swear, if you make him uncomfortable, I will shove you out of the car and run you over with it.

But Wufan only grins at him through the rear view mirror. "I heard that you are a match maker and offer lots of tips about dating and love. But tell me," he leans to Yixing, "do you have any tips on having great sex?" Oh, fuck no. Joonmyun kicks the back of the driver seat's chair, but Wufan is still grinning that flirty grin of his and Yixing might be succumbing to his flirty advances on him.

The blond man giggles. "No, but I'm willing to learn if you want to teach."

"I hope you choke on Yixing's dick," Joonmyun says sullenly.

Wufan laughs. "I won't. At least I have a gag reflex, unlike you." Yixing snickers.

"At least I don't cum the moment somebody puts their mouth on me," Joonmyun counters.

"Yixing, back me up here. Who would you let fuck you? Me, or Joonmyun?"

Yixing blinks. "Depends. I prefer plain sex. I have a feeling you like BDSM," he says and points to Wufan. "And Joonmyun is gentle and won't be rough, so I guess Joonmyun. I'm sure he's good in bed, too."

"I can be gentle, too," Wufan says. "And I have a bigger dick than Joonmyun."

"As if," Joonmyun mutters. He wonders if Yixing would actually fuck with him. Luckily, the hand slipped off of Yixing's thigh the moment Yixing said he would rather be having sex with Joonmyun.

One point for Joonmyun, no point for Wufan.

 

"Hey fuckers, didn't think you would come. Especially you," Baekhyun says as he points to Joonmyun. "Thought you would be too busy doing homework."

Joonmyun opes his mouth to reply, but Baekhyun has moved on to Yixing. "The date was great! Chanyeol asked if I wanted to hang out again on Saturday."

"Wonderful! If anything else happens between you two, call me," Yixing says with a smile. Baekhyun drags Wufan off to the mini bar to try some new booze, leaving Yixing and Joonmyun alone once again.

"Ah, thanks for letting me borrow your jacket," Yixing says and turns to Joonmyun, handing the jacket over. Their fingers briefly brush, and then it's gone.

"Hey, I'm going to go now with my friends now. You can come with me if you want. You have to talk, though. It looks really weird when you just stand around and watch me talk with my friends." Yixing gestures to the small group who is seated on the couch. To Joonmyun's dismay, Jongin was there, too. He's about to politely decline, but before he can speak up, Yixing has dragged him to the small group.

Yixing is greeted with smiles and a drunken babble as he approaches the group. "Oh my god, is that a high schooler?" Joonmyun points to a attractive man who looks like he's about to pass out.

Yixing giggles. "Of course not, that's Luhan! He looks like one, though. He's not under aged or anything."

"Yixmmph," Luhan slurs as he waves. It looks more like if he's giving Yixing the finger though, and a guy reaches over to push his hand down before he starts a possible fight with someone who thought they were getting flipped off by Luhan.

"Hey Joonmyun," Jongin says with a nod. His arm is slung around the guy who stopped Luhan from getting into a fight. Joonmyun awkwardly waves back.

"That's Kyungsoo. He's dating Jongin. I got them together, of course," Yixing says with a toothy grin. He looks quite pleased with himself. "Drunk guy is Luhan, that's Minseok, who also looks like he's also in high school. Funny thing is, he's the oldest in our group of friends. And then that's Sehun. He might be dating that scary tall guy who likes to cling onto Wufan. Might have to sort out the love triangle," Yixing murmurs.

"Zitao, you mean?" Joonmyun says.

Yixing nods. "Yeah. Oh, hey, you stay here with them, and I'll go grab some drinks," he says. He does that adorable thing again where his bottom lip sticks out a bit to form a pout and somehow makes his eyes sparkle. Joonmyun sits down and watches Yixing leave him to a bunch of people that he doesn't even know.

"Uh, hi?" the brunet says to the small group.

"You like Yixing, don't you?" Jongin nudges him in the ribs.

Joonmyun hates how easy it is to read him, as if he was an open book that held the secrets on how to fail at life. He stares at Jongin for a moment, eyes darting to his boyfriend and then back to him. "Um?" is all that comes out, and he can feel his soul and conscience shrivel up because of the smart reaction.

"You're scaring him," Kyungsoo whispers in Jongin's ear. Joonmyun is about to excuse himself, but Yixing arrives just then with the guy that was flirting with him at the last party instead of drinks.

"Okay, Jongdae, this is Minseok. You both have a date tomorrow at the mall. Questions? No? Alright. You two go dance or something." Yixing shoos Minseok and Jongdae away.

"Ten bucks says that they'll fuck before they date?" Sehun asks as he glances at Jongin.

*

"Wufan isn't here," Yixing says as a tomboyish girl places their drinks on the table instead of the usual man that always served them.

"He has a hangover. Thanks," Joonmyun says with a smile. The girl smiles back and goes back to where a long line has started.

"She's cute," Yixing casually remarks. Joonmyun glances at Yixing. "Maybe I should set you two up on a date," he continues and looks at Joonmyun as if to confirm if it was okay. Of course, it's not, since the person Joonmyun has his eyes on is the guy sitting in front of him who makes single people not single.

Joonmyun waves his hand as if to wave away the offer. "No thanks. I'm fine being single."

Yixing pouts. "Aw, please?" His eyes widen just a bit and with whatever magic he has, makes his eyes sparkle. Cuteness overload.

"Don't make the puppy face, it ruins my eyesight," Joonmyun says playfully. Yixing kicks him from under the table.

"Alright, fine." Yixing pretends to look annoyed, but a grin threatens to appear.

Joonmyun flips through his history text book as he looks for the page he's supposed to read. Maybe he could do it later? The book is shut and put away, and somewhere inside his mind, a tiny piece of his brain quietly goes "nooooo". Stupid, nerdy conscience of his. He might regret skipping out on studying the day he has his history test, but hopefully his and Yixing's relationship has passed the friend part.

"Yixing," Joonmyun starts. The other man peers up at him over the rim of his mug. "If you're a match maker, why are you still single?"

The blond man puts his mug down and reveals the whipped cream mustache. He licks it away. "I'm supposed to help others get together, silly." He smiles, but the dimples don't appear.

"But are you happy watching others get together while you're just...alone?"

"As long as my friends are happy, I'm happy." Yixing doesn't look like he's glad to be single, though. If anything, he looks a bit sad.

*

A couple days before Christmas, Joonmyun gets dragged along once again by Yixing to the mall. "It's not that bad being with Yixing," Minseok says as they watch Yixing and Jongdae stand in line of a busy coffee shop. "He's fun to be around with. And in your case," he jabs his red spoon at Joonmyun, "you slowly fall more in love with him."

"I never said I liked him," Joonmyun says.

Minseok rolls his eyes. "I've only met you twice and I already know you like him. You make it very obvious that you like him. You, my friend, stare at Yixing's ass a lot. And I thought I was a creep for staring at Jongdae's ass."

Joonmyun chokes on a stray sprinkle. "I don't stare at his ass! He has a very nice back is all," the brunet muttered.

Minseok grins. "Right," he drawled. "Anyways, if you really want to try to get Yixing's attention, you pretty much have to say 'I love you' or some other confession. You could have a one-night stand or flirt with him all you want, but those hints aren't going to go into his head. He mentioned to me the really tall and scary guy that's your friend actually touched him on the thigh and then asked him on tips on sex. Now, how would you react if some other guy tried that on you?"

"Okay, wait, Wufan was hitting on Yixing, but he just–"

"Answer the question."

Joonmyun blows his bangs out of his eyes. "Fine. I would be uncomfortable if he touched me," he says.

Minseok nods. "Okay. And how did Yixing react?"

"He let Wufan touch him? I'm confused, what are you trying to say?" Joonmyun stabs his ice cream with the spoon in his hand.

"What I'm trying to say is Yixing is an oblivious guy that won't know if you're hitting on him. You have to be straightforward, or else he's not gonna get the hints you're dropping on him. He's not dumb, he's just a guy that lost his virginity and still somehow manages be really, really innocent."

Minseok notices the other two heading back and quickly adds, "If it makes you feel better, pretend this is a double date and get all touchy and stuff."

Joonmyun opens his mouth to ask if that was going to make Yixing uncomfortable, but gets cut off as Jongdae and Yixing sit down with their coffee. Minseok immediately scoots closer to Jongdae.

"So, we're going to go shopping for Christmas presents. Is that alright with you two?" Yixing gestures to Minseok and Joonmyun, but looks at the latter as he talks.

"Yeah," Joonmyun mumbles as he shoves a glob of chocolate chip ice cream into his mouth. Yixing reaches over to pull the spoon out of Joonmyun's mouth. Normally, he would yell at whoever tried to steal his food (like Wufan), but his tongue must be frozen from the cold treat and action. He watches as Yixing pops a spoonful of ice cream into his mouth.

"Great!" Yixing says brightly and puts the red spoon into the paper cup that held the ice cream. Joonmyun blushes as he plays around with his ice cream and attempts to hide behind his hand. If he put the spoon in his mouth, then maybe it would count as a kiss? An indirect kiss, but a kiss nonetheless.

At one, they finish up their snacks and wander around the mall as they try to look for the perfect gift for their friends or special someone. Minseok and Jongdae wander off somewhere, most likely to hide in the bathroom and give each other blowjobs, leaving Yixing and Joonmyun alone again.

"Joonmyun," Yixing says, catching the attention of the brunet. Joonmyun puts the copy of The Giver back on the shelf. "Do you like reading?"

"Yeah," Joonmyun says and makes his way to where Yixing was standing in front of a shelf that was labeled "Fiction".

"Favorite genre?"

"Um, fiction."

"Book you've never read before?"

"Haven't got a chance to read the second Harry Potter book," Joonmyun says as he plucks one off the shelf. "I only read the first one, and I haven't been able to get my hands on the second book, which caused me to not be able to read the other ones because I like reading in order."

Yixing nods. " I just got book seven," he says. He takes the book from Joonmyun's hand and tucks it under his arm.

Joonmyun has a feeling Yixing is going to buy it for him, and usually he always turns down the offer, but since it's the holidays, he'll let this one slide.

They wander around the mall again after they check out for another store that might catch their eye. A clothing store manages to draw Joonmyun in.

"This hat is cute," Joonmyun says as he shows Yixing the white knit hat with ear flaps and the unicorn design. It has a muzzle on the front with two black nostrils and two button eyes, a pink horn, ears sitting on top, and white mane made out of yarn.

Yixing giggles. He takes the hat from Joonmyun's hand, hands brushing again and Joonmyun wants to just hold them because they're soft and warm.

The blond man puts it on and poses cutely. "How does it look?" he asks, large smile on his face.

"Looks great," Joonmyun says and fixes the hat a bit. Yixing's smile grows even bigger somehow, but it makes Joonmyun feel all happy and fuzzy inside, because he feels like he's the one that's caused the smile. Yixing takes a ram hat off the shelf and places it on Joonmyun's head.

"You look great, too," Yixing says and takes Joonmyun's hands, swinging them back and forth. Joonmyun blushes and looks down at their hands. And just like that, Yixing's soft hands are gone.

Joonmyun buys the unicorn hat and a couple other things while Yixing bought the ram hat. As they exit the store, Yixing nudges the brunet in the rib and presents the ram hat to him. "Merry Christmas," he says with a soft smile. Joonmyun can't help smiling back, taking the hat from him and fitting it snuggly on himself. He puts the unicorn hat on Yixing.

"Merry Christmas."

*

Joonmyun isn't sure if it's possible to get emotionally attached to a piece of knit wool with glass eyes and a cute pink nose, but somehow he does. He wears it at home, when he goes to the convenience store next door to his dorm, when he goes to visit a sick Zitao, and when he meets up with Yixing again at the cafe. To his surprise, Yixing is also wearing his unicorn hat, too.

"What's with the couple hats? Are they a new trend?" Joonmyun chokes on his cappuccino.

"They are not couple hats, Wufan," Joonmyun says with a glare. He bats the older man's hand away when he reaches out to touch the curled horns.

"We bought them for each other at the mall yesterday," Yixing says.

Wufan snorts. "How cute," he murmurs. Joonmyun steps on Wufan's foot, the other wincing in pain. He leaves before he could get yelled at by Joonmyun.

Yixing plays with the small puffy balls that are connected to a piece of yarn on his hat. "You're going to the Christmas party tomorrow, right?"

"Of course. It's not like I have anything else to do," Joonmyun says. Other then drooling over how cute you are.

Yixing smiles. "Great! The party won't be the same with you."

Joonmyun has to smile at that. How much more cuter can Yixing get?

"...We'll still meet next year, right?" Yixing looks at Joonmyun as he asks this question, smile softening.

The question is so sudden (and depressing, to be honest) that Joonmyun freezes mid-action. The rim of the purple mug has barely reached his lips, but he sets it down, the quiet clink contrasting to the loud chatter of happy couples and people.

"Why are you asking that? Of course we'll still meet at the same time and place. We're friends after all," Joonmyun says, hands silently crawling on the table to take Yixing's hand.

Yixing offers the brunet a weak smile and squeezes the hand in his.

*

"Merry Christmas, you lovely bastards! Hello handsome," Chanyeol smiles in a flirty way as Wufan is about to step into the packed house. He stops the other by walking in front of him.

"Wait, Joonmyun," Wufan reaches out to grab the brunet by the collar of his shirt and misses. Joonmyun turns around to grin at the other and flips him off.

"Might have to fix this. Maybe Chanyeol wasn't right for Baekhyun," Yixing muses as he watches Chanyeol snog Wufan.

"That son of a bitch!" Baekhyun storms past Yixing and Joonmyun to grab Chanyeol by the collar and pull him into a kiss.

"Yeah, I'm going to have to sort this relationship out," Yixing murmurs.

They drop their presents off under the Christmas tree in the living room and hang out with the same guys from the last party. "Cute hats," Kyungsoo says as he points to the knit unicorn and sheep hat. Yixing grins. That's how the entire party goes; Joonmyun and Yixing get compliments on the cute hats, while others call them couple hats. Either way, people like the hats.

"Present time!" Baekhyun calls, and people who aren't drunk rush to the living room. Baekhyun passes the presents out.

"Yixing and Joonmyun," he says as he reads the tag on two boxes. He smirks at Joonmyun and he gives both of the presents to him.

"Let's go upstairs," Yixing says, grabbing the brunet's sleeve and tugs him up the stairs. Away from most of the noise and prying eyes, they sit down in the hallway and open their presents. It doesn't say who it's from, though they both know who got their present.

Yixing lifts the lid off his box to reveal a red knit scarf. He smiles and reads the writing on a small scrap of paper that was on the scarf.

Please stay warm! ^^

"Open yours," the blond man says and nudges the other in the ribs. Joonmyun opens his. Inside is the second Harry Potter book. On top the book is a slip of paper.

Merry Christmas, Joonmyun! I have the entire collection if you want to borrow one, kekeke

The brunet smiles. "Thanks, Yixing."

Yixing smiles back, dimples showing once again. He lifts the scarf out of the box, and another piece of paper falls out. Joonmyun watches, heart thumping as Yixing unfolds it. It takes a moment for Yixing to finish reading the note, but a smile plays on his lips as he turns to Joonmyun. The brunet's heart leaps into his throat as Yixing leans in to kiss him.

*

The day after the Christmas party, Yixing takes Joonmyun to his studio. He watches and partakes in dance practice with the kids. He trips a lot during the session, causing the kids in the room to erupt in laughter.

During break, the kids swarm Joonmyun and ask him questions and play with his sheep hat. "I like your hat, Joonmyun hyung," a small boy says as he plays with the ear flaps.

"I like the ears," a girl with a ponytail says.

"Xingxing hyung, is Joonmyun hyung your boyfriend?" a boy that was the oldest in the class (age ten and a half) asks.

Yixing chuckles as he clears the bangs from the boy's face. "Yes. He likes to tell jokes, but they're horrible," the blond man says.

"Yah! Come here," Joonmyun gets up from where he was on the floor. Yixing laughs and dodges the tackle. They chase each other around, the kids laughing in glee and helping Joonmyun capture their teacher.

By noon, the kids get picked up and Yixing and Joonmyun get the empty practice room for themselves. Yixing makes good use of his promise of offering to teach Joonmyun to dance.

"Pretend you're pushing yourself away from somebody." Yixing puts his hands on the side of his chest and takes a step back, arms pushing out at the same time. Joonmyun follows his movements. "Good. Arms and legs like this," the blond demonstrates, right leg crossing his left leg and arms making a sort of square.

"Wait, does it matter which way I put my leg?" Joonmyun does the same step but switches his legs so that the left was crossing the right.

Yixing shakes his head. "Not really, but if you're dancing with others, they should be on the same side as the other dancers. Anyways, legs spread out, right arm goes over head, left arm extended to the side." Yixing does the step, body and arms moving smoothly. "Arm extended, Joonmen," Yixing says, using Joonmyun's nickname and adjusts the brunet's arm so it was sticking out and lifts it just a bit higher. "Good. Now move the left arm down, and reach to the right. Bend your knee."

"Like this?" Joonmyun's right arm goes down. Yixing reaches out to straighten out the arm and nods for Joonmyun to continue. Joonmyun's arm goes to the right.

"Too slow. It's like you're karate chopping something."

"Seriously?" Joonmyun looks at Yixing. The blond man shrugs.

Joonmyun does it again and earns a nod of approval.

"And jump," Yixing says and jumps, landing on his left leg while the right was off the ground. Joonmyun imitates him but ends up stumbling.

"This is hard," he whines.

Yixing chuckles. "Alright, we cans stop for the day. We can go to the cafe for some coffee," he suggests. He bends down to stuff his water bottle and towel into his duffel bag.

"Okay. Hurry up, then." Joonmyun slaps Yixing's ass on his way out. He has always wanted to do that.

*

"I assume you guys are officially dating now," Wufan says, arms around Chanyeol and Zitao.

Joonmyun hums in confirmation. "And I assume you have a really complicated love pentagon going on here." He gestures to Baekhyun and Sehun, then to Wufan, Chanyeol, and Zitao.

"I drew your love triangle slash pentagon," Yixing says and slides the paper to the middle of the table. "So, Wufan and Zitao like each other, Baekhyun and Chanyeol are dating, Chanyeol likes Wufan, and Sehun likes Zitao." The drawing is a bit messy, but Joonmyun is able to make out the names and vague pentagon shape with arrows indicating who likes who. "We need to fix this problem. Wufan, Taozi, your date is right now. Go," Yixing makes a "shoo" motion with his hands. "Baekhyun and Chanyeol, your date is tomorrow. And Sehun," Yixing pauses for a moment. "You and Luhan are gonna meet up at this nice restaurant tomorrow, too. You're gonna be going shopping for some nice clothes." Sehun sighs and leaves, dragging Baekhyun and Chanyeol with him.

"What about us? Are you going to set a date up for us?" Joonmyun asks, poking Yixing in the ribs as he grins.

Yixing giggles. "I thought this was already a date."

"You wanted to invite Wufan, and he dragged four other guys here. That's not a date," Joonmyun says and sticks his bottom lip out. Yixing leans in to capture Joonmyun's lips and pulls back before they got caught for making out in public.

"Alright, fine. We have a date tomorrow at the cafe at eleven."

*

"Stop getting stuff on your lips," Joonmyun huffs and pushes a napkin across the table to Yixing.

Yixing licks the sweet cream away. "It's impossible with the amount of whipped cream they put in the hot chocolate." He pushes the napkin back to Joonmyun.

The brunet huffs. "You're just tempting me," he mutters. Yixing raises an eyebrow, getting more cream on his top lip.

"What? Do you want to reenact the kiss scenes where in every single drama they clean the latte foam away?"

Joonmyun laughs. "Pretty much, yeah."

Yixing leans on top of the table. "Okay, go ahead. Say something cheesy first," the blond jokes.

"I love you," Joonmyun says with a grin and leans in to kiss the other, tongue lapping up the cream from Yixing's top lip.

They pull away. "Very funny," Yixing says as he rolls his eyes. "But I love you, too."


End file.
